Kabir Mahadevu (Earth-616)
| CurrentAlias = Rajah | Aliases = | Identity = Public | Identity2 = | Affiliation = Formerly | Relatives = None | Relatives2 = | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Mobile | Gender = Male | Height = | Weight = | Eyes = Brown | Hair = Black | Hair2 = | UnusualFeatures = Moustache and goatee; earrings in both ears | Citizenship = Indian | Citizenship2 = | MaritalStatus = | Occupation = Criminal, elephant rider and trainer. | Education = | Origin = Human | PlaceOfBirth = India | PlaceOfBirth2 = | Creators = Steve Englehart; Keith Giffen | First = Super-Villain Team-Up Vol 1 8 | First2 = | HistoryText = Kabir Mahadevu was an elephant trainer and rider born in India, with an Interpol criminal record. He trained a bull elephant to charge in combat whenever he, as a rider, prompted the beast to. At the same time, the animal was so well-trained that anyone could ride it in a parade. Mahadevu joined the fellonious group Circus of Crime as an artist under the stage name Rajah when the Circus was in Europe. The Circus performed in front of audiences, then their leader the Ringmaster used his special hat to hypnotize the crowd, paralyzing them while the performers stole their wallets and valuables. At that point, the Ringmaster's activities had raised too many alarms in the US, inciting them to perform in a different continent for a while. During their stay in Latveria, the Circus camp was approached by super-powered beings Shroud and Sub-Mariner, fugitives of Latverian monarch Doctor Doom. Sub-Mariner requested that the Ringmaster smuggled him and his ally to a different country, but the Ringmaster refused, fearing any mess with Doom. Sub-Mariner, both enraged and wanting the Ringmaster to fear him, attacked the artist, slamming him outside his tent. The Ringmaster called up his nearby minions, including the Clown, Human Cannonball and acrobats Great Gambonnos, to react to the attack. Shroud and Sub-Mariner defeated them all; but by then, Rajah was ready to join the fray, on top of his war mount! Rajah and his elephant charged against the Sub-Mariner, but the later kept his position -although he pushed his defeated enemies, Clown and Cannoball, to the sides. Rajah noticed that Sub-Mariner was in time to jump and dodge, but he wasn't even trying; even then, Rajah could not believe that a man could withstand the elephant's power. Indeed, the elephant pushed the Sub-Mariner against a nearby pool; Rajah concluded that the Sub-Mariner had been petrified in fear. The Ringmaster knew otherwise: The Sub-Mariner's power grew in contact with water, as it was at that moment. While the Ringmaster chastised Rajah for his gaffe, the Sub-Mariner recovered and, with a single blow, knocked down the elephant and Rajah, throwing them several meters to the air. Rajah lost the turban in the process. The Ringmaster conceded defeat and collaborated with the Sub-Mariner; but the Circus could not leave the country before the staged show. He disguised Shroud and Sub-Mariner as circus performers, with the Sub-Mariner riding the elephant in the place of Rajah. However, during a parade, Sub-Mariner lost his nerve at the sight of Doom, confronted Shroud and fought him, calling the attention of the authorities. Doom ordered the parade to stop and the Circus to leave, except for the two conflictive people. The Ringmaster servilly betrayed Shroud and Sub-Mariner, revealing their real identities to Doom; and, in exchange for this help, Doom made the Circus to be escorted until the frontier. The Circus left in good terms with Doom. Rajah was not seen with the Circus for a while,Circus of Crime appeared in 8 comic-books between in 1977 and 1982, not featuring Rajah at least in any visible way. until the Circus was acting in Mexico, once again because the Ringmaster feared a jail sentence should he visit the US. At that point, they were forced to act in a poor village, so the Ringmaster refrained from using his typical stealing act - because the audience had little to steal (however, they were still using the name Circus of '''Crime). Instead, the Ringmaster had a show including the giant, monstruous robot Dragon Man, revealed from a cage covered with a canopy. Rajah's activities included riding his elephant to pull the wheeled cage to the stage; then the Gambonnos spectacularly lifted the tissue and strongman Bruto opened the door. Ringmaster hypnotically controlled the Dragon Man, ensuring a calm show. When the Ringmaster discovered that Bruce Banner -secretly his former nemesis the Hulk- was among the audience, the Ringmaster hypnotized Banner and transformed him into the Hulk to force him fight the Dragon Man. As soon as the audience saw the Hulk, they started to panic; in a successful effort to calm them, the Ringmaster used his powers to make Hulk raise Rajah's elephant with one hand. However, during the arena confrontation, Dragon Man recovered and both monsters fought so brutally that the Circus facilities were damaged and the audience ran away. The Ringmaster's hat was destroyed, releasing the Hulk from his control, and Dragon Man flew away. The Circus recovered from this blunder and returned to the United States. Rajah eventually re-joined the Circus, but he was not seen with them since.Circus of Crime has made more than 25 further appearances since, none of them featuring Rajah in a visible way. | Powers = '''Animal Control: Rajah seems to have a superhuman skill to communicate with elephants, recognizing the signals they use and also explaining his wishes as clearly as an elephant's intelligence can understand. This skill could also be extended to other animals in a less efficient way. The origin of this power is unexplained. | Abilities = A skilled elephant trainer, Rajah can ride his elephant in both calm conditions and in combat, making it attack a human opponent in a charge. | Strength = Rajah possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in minimal regular exercise. Physically weak, Rajah can only lift up to 100 pounds over his head. | Weaknesses = Rajah has sub-par fighting skills and physical strenght, relying on his elephant mount to combat. He would only resort to hand-to-hand fight if it is his last hope. | Equipment = Rajah has been seen riding a bull elephant in combat, and also riding a draught elephant called Sultan during a circus show. Each elephant had different decorations, the former including spheres in the tips of the tusks; it is unclear whether they are the same creature or not. | Transportation = He rides an elephant. | Weapons = He uses the elephant as his weapon. | Quotation = The Rajah must always have his way, Sub-Mariner! Even you cannot survive the charge of a bull-elephant! | Speaker = Rajah | Notes = * A turban-wearing acrobat was seen working for the Circus of Crime in one of their first appearance, where he -and they- were defeated by Daredevil and Spider-Man - an event seen in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #16 (1964). This beardless man was confirmed to be not Rajah in ''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' v2 #2, which specifies Rajah's first appearance as happening in ''Super-Villain Team-Up'' #8 (1976). * ''Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' #1 specifically says that Rajah has both a superhuman power to control animals, and a down-to-earth skill to train them. | Trivia = | Marvel = | Wikipedia = | Links = }} Category:Circus of Crime members Category:Acrobats Category:Circus Performers Category:Zoopathy